The present invention relates generally to therapeutic signals, and more particularly to signals induced into living bodies by infrasonic therapy devices.
Infrasonic massagers that provide broadband sound infusion have been on the market for more than a decade, and have proven effective for a variety of therapeutic applications including pain relief, accelerated recovery, and exploring consciousness.
Previous devices that use infrasonic waves for therapy have been limited in their ability to produce signals that penetrate through body tissue to provide effective treatment. Previous devices have utilized nonlinear signal variation to produce random signals that penetrate more deeply than periodically repeating signal patterns, for example sinusoidal signals that vary rhythmically in frequency. An example of this approach is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/976,100, filed on Nov. 21, 1997, by the present inventor. In that application, a method of generating and delivering an infrasonic signal with nonlinear frequency variation is disclosed wherein random noise is filtered to attenuate all frequency components that lie outside of the desired frequency band. While this approach provides an improvement in the art, more effective signal penetration is desirable.
Another problem is that when infrasonic signals are created from random noise, and particularly when multiple signals are added together, they tend to develop very high peaks, much higher than the average voltage of the signal. High voltage peaks in the signal create two problems. First, when a transducer is displaced close to its maximum displacement by high voltage peaks, the rubber diaphragm in the transducer will undergo increased stress and fail sooner. Second, as the rubber diaphragm ages, it will soften, allowing additional displacement. If the moving element in the transducer is already operating at maximum displacement, additional flexibility will allow the moving diaphragm to reach its maximum displacement and hit the magnet housing or the transducer""s case, which the user will interpret as a product failure.
One solution to this problem is to reduce the amplitude of the segments of the signal that have high amplitude. However, if the peaks are simply truncated by limiting the voltage, additional frequencies will be introduced into the signal that will reduce the effectiveness of the signal. Segments may be identified and scaled by a linear factor to improve the results, but noise will be introduced at the transition points.
According to the present invention, the effectiveness of a therapeutic signal is enhanced by the synergistic application to a patient of multiple signals, each signal having a predetermined frequency spectrum and nonlinear frequency variation. The advantage of signals with nonlinear frequency variation is that they are far less predictable by the body and thus, provide more effective treatment.
According to the invention, multiple frequency bands with nonlinear frequency variation are combined to enhance the effectiveness of therapy delivered by an infrasonic transducer or other delivery mechanism.
In a preferred embodiment, a first signal in the range of 8.5 to 13.8 Hz is combined with a second lower frequency signal in the range of 1.4 and 2.9 Hz. When specific high frequency signals in the 1-2 kHz. range are combined with a low frequency signal, either a 8.5-13.8 Hz. signal or the combined signal described above, the composite signal becomes very effective. For this reason, the combination of audible bands and infrasonic bands is often highly effective at relieving pain and accelerating recovery where just the alpha infusion provides little benefit to the patient.
A second benefit of adding a high frequency signal with nonlinear frequency variation to a low frequency signal with nonlinear frequency variation is that the composite signal varies unpredictably so that the body has no way of predicting the low frequency signal and filtering it out. This substantially increases the induction of the low frequency signal into the body rhythms of the patient.
In another aspect of the invention, a therapeutic signal produced by a healer is filtered to remove all frequencies outside of a desired frequency band. In many cultures during healing rituals, healers use their voices or other sounds such as infrasonic sounds produced by their trembling hands to facilitate healing. The benefit of using a healer""s signal over a synthesized signal is that the healer""s signal may be more effective for some patients at relieving pain and accelerating recovery. The advantage of a filtered signal is that signals of specific frequency range are more effective than signals that cover a range of frequency bands. Thus, combining the healer""s sounds with the specific frequency bandwidth of filtered technology, as disclosed herein, provides a signal that may be more effective than either a computer generated signal or the healer""s recorded unfiltered signal.
The auditory signal may comprise emotionally evocative material and may be targeted specifically at known emotional disturbances like grief, depression, betrayal, or retribution. This targeted application of the auditory signal may enhance effectiveness by affecting the human levels of consciousness while the infrasonic signals activate cellular and sub-cellular responses. This programming can be spoken or played from an audio or video recording. Since buried emotions are often at the core of chronic illness and delayed healing, and can otherwise adversely affect quality of life, adding an emotionally evocative signal to infrasound therapy can be useful to facilitate healing.
In another aspect of the invention, signal peaks of an infrasonic signal are scaled without the introduction of frequencies outside the desired frequency ranges. The scaling technique disclosed herein maintains effectiveness of the therapeutic signal and improves its versatility with therapeutic signal delivery equipment. Maximum transducer displacement is reduced, increasing transducer life and decreasing the likelihood that the moving element will reach the ends of its displacement limits as the rubber diagraph ages and softens.